Vehicles that serve to transport objects and passengers usually have an interior space that is bounded by a body or a frame structure and is utilized with the aid of covering elements. The latter are embodied in the form of floor panels, side lining elements, side walls and ceiling elements, which are attached to the body or frame structure. In a passenger cabin of a vehicle, floor panels are subjected to constant loading, which is brought about as a result of access movements, moisture, contamination and the elastic deformations that regularly occur during operation of the vehicle. To protect floor panels from damage these are laid spaced apart from one another with the formation of gaps in the body or frame structure, so that the elastic movements of the vehicle do not lead to impact loadings on lateral bounding edges of the floor panels. The gaps that are present over the whole surface of the floor are sealed by means of a sealing compound so as to prevent the entry of fluids or contamination into regions located underneath the floor. Furthermore the sealing serves to prevent as far as possible any indiscriminate fluid connection between spaces in vehicles that are climatically separated from one another.
Floor panels in passenger aircraft are, for example, of known art from DE 10 2007 062 747 A1 and US 20090166472 A1.
In the configuration of cabin flooring in passenger aircraft a tape is often used to seal a gap between floor panels; this lines a lateral bounding surface of the floor panels after they have been bolted into position, after which a sealing compound is applied around the entity. Before it is applied the sealing compound is in a very viscous fluid or pasty state in the first instance; after a sufficiently long curing time in the gap this passes into an elastic solid state. The sealing and curing procedures are thus associated with the expenditure of a considerable amount of time. During the production of the vehicle access to the floor is to be avoided totally over this period of time, such that all other installation tasks within the cabin must be interrupted.
If a floor panel or another surface element with this type of sealing is to be removed, for example for reasons of maintenance or repair tasks, the sealing compound must be broken out of the gap by means of the inlaid tape and removed from both the floor panel and also all adjacent frame structure surfaces. This also causes a significant expenditure of time. In addition, other objects, desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.